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Review of THE NOWHERE MAN by Gregg Hurwitz

Normally, I advocate being able to just pick up any book in a series and being able to read it. That said, I personally prefer to read a series in order. You can read THE NOWHERE MANwithout reading ORPHAN X but I think it’s even better if you read them in order.

Gregg Hurwitz is one of my favorite writers. All the reasons I love his books are in this latest novel. The main character, Evan Smoak, is a man of many skills; skills taught to him for a specific purpose. What makes him a great protagonist, and one that is easy to cheer for, is that he isn’t super human. He’s just damn good at what he does. He also has his own moral code and sticks to it. For me, this makes for great reading and Smoak is now part of a list of characters who populate books I will not miss.

One of the things that Hurwitz does better than almost anyone else is draw the reader in. It is almost impossible to pick up one of his books and just casually read a few pages. From the first paragraph to the last, Hurwitz is drawing you deeper and deeper into his world. Gregg also does action extremely well. The action is both believable and easy to visualize. I think, in par,t this is the case because Gregg does his homework and doesn’t shy away from research.

In THE NOWHERE MAN, Evan has broken away from the group he used to work with and has managed to hide himself so he can live life on his own terms. He’s helping people he thinks need him and gets them safe. Of course, he himself is never truly safe and must take precautions to make sure he is off the radar. These precautions proved to be insufficient as we find Evan captured by a man who is a vicious killer and lunatic.

The motivation is simple: the villain wants the secret bank account. The problem is that Evan is not really inclined to want to do acquiesce. So, while hidden away at a secret stronghold, Evan plays cat and mouse games with his captors. Hurwitz uses this so well that my anxiety while reading this was high. After the first book, I’m used to Evan being in control of every situation and here he was not. Hurwitz managed to portray Evan’s frustration with the situation very well. If things weren’t bad enough, his old handlers discover where he is and that he is being held and decide this is a great opportunity to finally take him out. Evan isn’t down with this plan.

This is action packed in all the best ways. The action may seem a little over the top at times but it all still plausible. I liked Evan coming into this book, I like him even more now. I also have a strange attraction to Candy who you will meet in strange circumstances.

Gregg Hurwitz is one of the best thriller writers working today and never disappoints. Reading THE NOWHERE MAN is like getting into a car and enjoying the ride so much that you don’t realize that driver has been accelerating more and more as you go. By the time you realize you’re doing 175 miles an hours you are having so much fun you just don’t care. Make some coffee, drink a red bull and be ready for an amazing read in one sitting book.